You are on page 1of 23

CHAPTER ONE

1.1 Introduction
The students industrial work experience scheme (SIWES),also known as industrial
training is a compulsory skill Training program designed to expose and prepare
students of Nigerian Universities, Polytechnics, Colleges of education, Colleges of
technology and Colleges of Agriculture, for the industry work situation they are
likely to meet at the graduation. The scheme also afford students the opportunity of
familiarizing and Exposing Themselves to the needed experience in handling
equipment and machinery that are usually not available in their institutions.
Before the establishment of the screen, there was a growing concern among
industrialists, that graduates of institutions of higher learning lacked adequate
practical background studies preparatory for employment in industries. Thus
employers were of the opinion that the theoretical education in higher institutions
was not responsive to the needs of the employers of labor.
SIWES is a tripartite program involving the students, their institutions and
industry. The scheme strives to encourage employer’s involvement in the
educational process of preparing students for a work environment outside the
various institutions. The program form part of the approved minimum academic
standard in various degree disciplines for all Nigerian universities.
1.2 Company Profile
The founder, Dr. Godswill Agbagwa – priest and ethicist – grew up in Nigeria. His
experience with poverty as a teenager led him to dedicate his priestly ministry to
integral social and human development. In 2010, while studying abroad as a
graduate student, he decided to establish CSAAE as a platform to advance integral
social and human development in Africa and across the world. The five core values

1
at the foundation of his work at CSAAE include: Punctuality, Integrity, Creativity,
Accountability and Solidarity (PICAS)
CSAAE is a registered nonprofit in Nigeria; a 501(c3) nonprofit in the United
Staes; an organisation in special consultative status with the United Nations’
ECOSOC and former representative of African civil societies at the World Bank
and IMF civil societies working group. The Centre carries out its operations from
its head office in Owerri, Nigeria, with technical support from its U.S. office in
Maryland.
CSAAE envisions a better Africa where all can find support and encouragement to
work hard, live with dignity and feel proud to belong. The Centre pursues this
vision through three programs.
 A socioeconomic program that enables:
 Entrepreneurship
 Quality primary health care
 Youth empowerment
 Quality primary education
 Women empowerment
 Sustainable environment
 An advocacy program that advocates for:
 Human rights
 Good governance
 Rule of law
 Anticorruption
 An ethics program that promotes:
 Business ethics
 Professional Ethics
2
 Ethical Leadership
1.3 About ICT
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) refers to all equipment and
applications that involve communications such as computers, cell phones,
televisions, radio and satellite systems as well as the various services and
applications associated with them such as video conferencing and distant learning.
FUTO Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Centre was established
in 1996 during the tenure of Engr. Prof. C.O.G. Obah, the third substantive Vice-
Chancellor of the University. ICT activities started then with the establishment
of Nigerian Universities Network (NUNET) Steering Committee to provide e-mail
services to the University Community from an office in the Vice Chancellor’s
lodge.
The e-mail service was provided by connecting to the National Universities
Commission’s dial-up which connects to the International Centre for Theoretical
Physics (ICTP) in Italy. Due to the delay associated with this type of
Communications, an alternative and full Internet access that does not depend on a
telephone line were implemented through Link Service Ltd. With such improved
access the University Community provided URL for search and download. Further
relief was provided with the donation of Internet Centre to Electrical and
Electronic Engineering in 2004 by a Philanthropist, which was extended to the
NUNET office in the University Permanent Site. The need to harmonize and
coordinate the various ICT Units in the University brought about the creation of
the Directorate of ICT in January 2005 by the then Vice-Chancellor Prof. Jude E.
Njoku. Since then, the subsequent Vice-Chancellor has impacted positively in the
development of ICT facilities in the University including completing all ongoing

3
projects, the establishment of a dynamic website and portals, rolling out of ICT
policy for the University etc.
In his address to the General Assembly of the University on the assumption of
office in June 2016, the 7 th Substantive Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Francis C. Eze
reaffirmed his desire to sustain efforts at full computerization of all university’s
administrative and academic processes as encapsulated in his mantra “Driving the
Culture of Excellence”. His vision is to leverage on ICT to enhance teaching,
learning and research so that FUTO will be repositioned into a World Class
University of Excellent.

4
CHAPTER TWO
About what I learnt
2.1 Graphic Design
Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity
consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific
messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an
interdisciplinary branch of design and of the fine arts. Its practice
involves creativity, innovation and lateral thinking using manual or digital tools,
where it is usual to use text and graphics to communicate visually.
The role of the graphic designer in the communication process is that of encoder or
interpreter of the message. They work on the interpretation, ordering, and
presentation of visual messages. Usually, graphic design uses
the aesthetics of typography and the compositional arrangement of the text,
ornamentation, and imagery to convey ideas, feelings, and attitudes beyond what
language alone expresses. The design work can be based on a customer's demand,
a demand that ends up being established linguistically, either orally or in writing,
that is, that graphic design transforms a linguistic message into a graphic
manifestation.
Graphic design has, as a field of application, different areas of knowledge focused
on any visual communication system. For example, it can be applied in advertising
strategies, or it can also be applied in the aviation world or space exploration. In
this sense, in some countries graphic design is related as only associated with the
production of sketches and drawings, this is incorrect, since visual communication
is a small part of a huge range of types and classes where it can be applied.
2.2 Building Your Graphic Design Portfolio Step by Step

5
If the advantages we mentioned above are appealing to you, then it's time to get to
work on your document.
1. Define your target audience
Keep in mind that you're creating a marketing asset. As such, it needs to have a
target and a goal.
The goal of your portfolio is clear: getting hired!
Your audience is the type of person you want to encourage to hire you. Your
design choices will vary depending on who you are targeting. You should pick
different work samples when showcasing your portfolio to a recruiter versus a
potential client.
These are a few examples:
 If you are looking for a job in a marketing agency, your target audience is
recruiters. In a marketing agency, you'll likely be working on different types
of projects like PDFs, feature images, social posts, graphics for articles, etc.
So a broader work sample is a good choice.
 Suppose you are looking for clients in a specific niche. In that case, a better
approach is to pick work samples that reflect your expertise in their industry.
In some instances, hyper-focus your pieces to a specific type of work like
branding, product design, UX/UI, etc.
2. Look for inspiration
Like any other design project, having a pool of references and inspiration is ideal
for getting the creative juices flowing.
You want to pick two to three references to build your layout.
Here's a Pinterest board full of PDF examples you can choose from to make the
whole process easier.

6
3. Add your personal brand and style to your portfolio
Inspiration is just that: inspiration. Your graphic design portfolio is about who you
are as a designer and what you have to offer.
Your document shouldn't blend in with the rest. It should stand out by being
unique.
 Add your logo or name to the cover of your portfolio and at the end.
 Choose your brand color scheme.
 Use consistent typography and make sure your overall aesthetic matches
your personal style.
4. Focus on showcasing your strengths
We're sure you're a multifaceted designer with hundreds of interests, a whole book
of knowledge, and various work samples. Because of this, you'll be tempted to add
everything to your portfolio.
However, you might want to consider a tighter approach.
By honing your skills, you're building a crucial factor to land a client or a job:
expertise.
So, how do you focus on your core skills? Simple, you first think about your
target's needs.
For this experiment, imagine you're looking to break into the UI industry. By
definition, you'll create user interfaces for websites, mobile apps, web apps, etc.
Following this train of thought, adding your logo design skills is kind of irrelevant
because it's not what your target audience is looking for.
That said, there's a deeper layer: the industry.
Suppose you know your target industry. You can go even further and only
showcase your work for similar companies.

7
At the end of this exercise, you might end up with UI designs for software
products.
5. Sketch the layout for your portfolio using DocFly
The layout is one of those things that can make or break your design.
Sketching your layout is not a must, as you can always try different configurations
while working. However, experimenting with different configurations can quickly
become inefficient.
If you want to nail your static portfolio, you have to treat the entire thing as a
design project. You can think of it as a magazine.
Grab a piece of paper and start drawing different layouts. Once you settle for one,
you can go to your DocFly dashboard and click on New File > Blank PDF.
Unless you want your portfolio to be vertical, you'll need to rotate the file. To do
so, click on the Organize tab at the top of the page.
There you'll find the rotate option.
To add new pages, just go to the Organize tab and click on Blank Page to add as
many as you need. If you need to modify your PDF file after creating it, you can
use Docfly's edit PDF feature.
6. Pick your best work
Congratulations! You have streamlined the essential elements of your PDF
portfolio. It's time to pick the actual parts you want to share with your prospective
clients.
For this step, focus on the best workpieces you have in your arsenal.
Even if you have only three samples, it's better to showcase one awesome project
than three average ones.
Thinking logically, your client or employer will judge you based on the weakest
piece in your portfolio.
8
Make sure only to add those you are most proud of or ones that better met the
project's goals (like increasing brand awareness, increasing attention, making the
user experience better, increasing the CTR of an ad, etc.)
7. Write a brief case study for every project
There are three things you want to convey with your copy:
If you can show those three things to a potential client or employer, your chances
of success will skyrocket.
However, copywriting requires a different set of skills that might not be your forte.
Worry not, here's an excellent guide on how to write design case studies.
Even if you are in another niche, that guide will save you hours in writing.
 The problem you needed to solve with your design
 The process you followed to solve it, and
 The goals your design achieved
8. Put everything together in the editor tool
Alright, you have all the building blocks of your portfolio. It's time to make it
happen.
Step 1. Upload your layout to DocFly
If you designed your layout on DocFly, you can move to the next step.
First, we need to transform our PowerPoint layout into a PDF to make it editable.

9
After uploading our slices, they will be converted into PDFs, and we'll be able to
use them for our project.
After it finishes uploading, DocFly will send you to your dashboard.
In there, click on the three dots on the right from your file to open the menu.
Now, click on convert to PDF.
After finishing the conversion, you'll now have two files: the original PowerPoint
file and a new editable PDF file.
Step 2. Add your images following your layout
Now that our layout is in the editor, we can add images, text, and everything else
we need.
On the top, you'll find a tool menu. Click on the image tool and replace the
placeholders with your images.

10
Once the images are on the canvas, just place them in the right positions.

11
Step 3. Add your case study on the page
The next tool we'll use is the text tool. Just click on the button and now you can
place any text anywhere on the canvas.
We already have a place for our text so let's copy and paste it.
You can also use the setting menu to change the font size, color, and family.
After that's done, just do the same with the other pages following your layout
design.
9. Add your contact information
The last thing we want to add is a contact page. Add the following information to
this page:
Then click save and that's it. Your portfolio is ready for proofreading.
 Full name
 Email
 Phone number
12
 Website (if you have any)
 Call to action
10. Proofread your copy
Spelling mistakes are a quick way to get your portfolio sent to the trash.
Rest for one day and read it carefully the next day so you have a fresh pair of eyes
ready to spot all of those grammatical errors.
You just finished your portfolio! Now, you're ready to download your file and
start closing more deals.
2.3 How to design a logo
Here are two things to keep in mind as we dive in:
1. Design is a lot of strategy. Yes, you will have to create something visual at
some point. But the lion’s share of the work is strategic, especially at the
beginning. Be prepared to do more thinking and decision-making than
drawing.
2. You’re not just designing a logo. Remember that the logo is only part of a
larger visual system, and its individual pieces all need to work together.
To do this right, you’ll want to work in phases. While every designer’s process
looks different, the one we’re going to guide you through has five phases:
 Discover
 Explore
 Design
 Refine
 Define
Every phase has its own goal, process and deliverable. We’ll outline why each
phase is important, the series of actions or steps you need to take, and the final
deliverable you’re working toward—which you’ll need for the next phase.
13
2.4 Phase One: Discover
Goal
The discovery phase is the “question” phase. Designers use this time to tease out as
much context and background as possible to fully understand their client’s
company or organization, its values, business, brand attributes, etc. This is also the
time to pose preliminary design questions about the desired look and feel, all
possible use-cases and any must-haves or special requests.
For you, this will be more of a self-discovery phase. Your goal is to have a solid
understanding of who your company/organization is, what you believe in, what
you want to accomplish and how you want to get there. Remember, you’re not just
designing a logo. You’re shaping your brand identity.
While you may think you know these things, I encourage you to go through the
exercise of writing your answers down. My guess is that there’s some things you
haven’t considered.
Deliverable
After you’ve answered these questions, you’ll summarize the answers in a creative
strategy that provides a general overview of your business. You might include:
your objective for the design process, the tone of your brand, visual considerations
and an early vision for the design system and logo, including any themes that
surfaced in this phase.
Not only will you use this strategy document to guide your next phase, you’ll also
use it to judge your success throughout the process. At the end of each phase,
evaluate your deliverables by how well they fulfill the vision established in the
creative strategy. When personal opinions and preferences inevitably arise, refer
back to this document to stay objective.

14
2.5 Phase Two: Explore
Goal
This is your research phase, but “exploration” sounds more exciting. And it is, we
promise. The exploration phase might just be the most fun and—as someone who’s
embarking on this design process solo, and possibly for the first time—the most
helpful.
Essentially, you’ll be turning your focus outward to encounter and explore design
out in the world. Your goal here is twofold: Get educated and get inspired.
Process
Start simple by googling basic design principles. Read up on the fundamentals like
style, color, and typography.
Our designers mentioned that certain principles of color theory can be especially
helpful for logo design. Different colors evoke different emotions and behaviors,
helping you create the desired emotional response from your audience. It’s
fascinating stuff, really.
For example, blue inspires trust, dependability and authority. It’s no coincidence
that blue is a popular choice for banks, credit cards and software. Green evokes
feelings of peace, growth and health. Companies like Whole Foods and BP use
green in their branding to strategically communicate a level of care for the planet.
Discover which color will elicit the feelings you want from your audience.
Once you’ve got a handle on the basics, start gathering intel. Look first to your
immediate competitors, then to your broader industry. Don’t just look at logos.
Experience the entire visual system by observing brands across multiple channels,
ie. website, different social media networks, etc. Take notes. What elements stand
out to you, both good and bad?
15
Next, look outside your industry. Explore what’s trending among the design
community. Look to websites like Dribbble, Behance and Brand New for recent
creative work from the world’s leading designers. Search #logodesign or other
related hashtags on Instagram. The website 99designs also has a discover page for
design inspiration you might find useful.
Deliverable
Create a mood board to collect all the images, designs, color combinations,
photos, illustrations and yes, logos, you felt drawn to, and represent the look and
feel you want for your brand identity.
If you’re feeling crafty, you can create an actual board by cutting and pasting
printed images. But most designers keep it digital. The easiest way to collect is
Pinterest, but if you need to share/review easily, just copy and paste your images
into a document.
If you’re drawn to several design directions, create separate mood boards for each.
Be sure to include short descriptions about how each board’s visual choices
express the brand attributes detailed in your creative strategy. Ideally, you’d
present these boards to other members of your team or to a decision-maker, and
they’d help you narrow down to one direction.
2.6 Phase Three: Design
Goal
Finally! The goal here is pretty straightforward: Take all the considerations and
inputs from the first two phases and start generating some logo designs.
Tools
Before you start, make sure you have what you’ll need to design:

16
Pencil and paper
Sketching some preliminary ideas is a great place. Don’t over-complicate this.
Design is an iterative process. Even if you think you can’t draw, create rough
sketches of the ideas in your head. Your brain will be forced to think creatively—
which is exactly the mindset you need.
2.7 Vector graphic design software
The industry standard for vector graphics editing software is Adobe Illustrator—
but it doesn’t come cheap and isn’t necessarily novice-friendly. You could try out
similar free tools like Inkscape and Vectr.
Why vector? All logos are vector images, meaning that instead of pixels, they’re
made up of lines defined by mathematical formulas. Vectors are easier to modify
and scale.
2.8 Fonts
If you go the above route, you may want to look into downloading some additional
fonts. Free font resources include the Google Fonts library and Font Squirrel. You
can also purchase fonts at sites like MyFonts and FontShop.
2.9 Types of logos
Whether you decide to design your logo from scratch or use a template, a good
starting point is to familiarize yourself with the seven types of logos:
Word mark
Some brands have no graphic symbol and decide instead to place their company or
organization name front and center. In this case, typography is everything.
Whatever your font choice, it has to be legible.
Brand mark
Also known as “pictorial marks,” brand marks are the graphic symbol in a logo.
These symbols are usually recognizable and create an immediate connection in the
17
minds of your audience. For example, a tooth for a dentist, mountains for an
outdoor company, etc.
You’ll need to pair a brand mark with your company or organization name in the
beginning. But after time, the symbol alone could serve as a powerful, visual
shorthand for a well-known brand.
Combination mark
This type of logo combines both a symbol and a wordmark, creating the more
traditional logo “lock-up” we’re all familiar with. Play around with the placement
of each element until you find a layout you like. You can also allow for different
combinations of the two in certain contexts, which we’ll cover in the “Define”
phase.
Abstract logo mark
As their name suggests, abstract logo marks are less recognizable and usually more
geometric. They’re great when you want something completely unique to your
brand. Again, we strongly advise pairing these symbols with your company or
organization name until you’ve built enough brand recognition to let your symbol
go solo.
Letter mark
A letter mark, also called a “monogram” logo, is great if your name is long or
clunky. You can choose to either abbreviate your name or just use your initials.
Typography is just as important in a letter mark as it is in a word mark. Luckily,
with fewer letters and less worry about legibility, you can use more creative
styling.
Mascot
Depending on your brand personality, a mascot could be fun. Plus, they’re more
flexible than your standard symbol because their expressions and contexts can
18
change. Just be sure to use a style that aligns with the message and emotion you
want to communicate. If you’re going for a more serious vibe, mascots aren’t a
great choice.
Emblems
Emblem logos include text inside a symbol. Emblems, also known as “crests,”
have been around for a long time and can communicate tradition and prestige.
Symbols
If you decide you want a symbol in your logo—whether traditional or abstract—
you might need to do some brainstorming. Here are a few tips from our designers
to create a symbol that’s right for your brand:
Fonts
If you decide to go with a word mark or letter mark, remember how important
typography is. Similar to colors, different fonts elicit different interpretations of
your brand personality.
There are countless font types, but they all fall into one of three families (also
called typefaces): serifs, sans serifs and script.
Serif fonts
Serif fonts have small lines or strokes attached to the end of the larger strokes in a
letter or symbol. These fonts are classic and can be a good choice when you want
to communicate trust, tradition and sophistication.
Sans serif fonts
These are fonts that have no serifs attached to the letters. The result is a crisp, clean
line that looks sleek and modern. Sans serif fonts are the preferred font family for
digital because they’re easier to read. If you’re going for a minimalist design, sans
serif fonts are the way to go.
2.10 Script
19
Script fonts mimic cursive handwriting, creating the effect of a signature. They
often feel more authentic and original.
Now that you have all the information for how to design a logo, don’t forget:
generate, evaluate, and repeat.
Deliverable
You should end up with at least one logo design to evaluate. It’s also common at
this stage to have two or three logos to choose between. In the next phase, we’ll go
into more detail about how to evaluate your designs.
2.11 Phase Four: Refine
Goal
If you ended the last phase with several different options, now’s the time to narrow
down. Already have a final choice? Great! Let’s put it to the test.
2.12 Phase Five: Define
Goal
When it comes to maintaining the integrity of your brand identity, quality and
consistency are key. Given the number of places your logo will live—and the
number of people who may need to use it—it’s important to define a set of rules
and guidelines for how to treat your logo.
Process
To start, consider any guidelines you may have about your logo’s size, color,
layout, treatment, positioning, orientation, etc.
Some questions to ask yourself:
 Are there only certain color backgrounds your logo should be placed
against?
 Can your logo be used on top of photography? If so, can you change the
color to help it pop?
20
 If you have a combination logo mark, can the elements be separated in
certain contexts?
To ensure your logo maintains a strong impact, don’t be afraid to include some
“never” rules to discourage any modifications or distortions to your logo.
Otherwise, you’ll wind up with a holiday-colored logo on an email that went out to
all 10k of your customers.
Deliverable
This is often referred to as a style guide. A style guide can be as simple or
comprehensive as you need. Recently, Sprout’s Design Systems team built an
entire website devoted to our style guide. It’s called Seeds, and it houses all of our
brand, writing and visual guidelines, as well as all the patterns and components our
product designers need to build our app.
But you don’t have to build a brand new website to house your brand standards.
Just make sure they’re properly communicated to your teams and are easily
accessible to everyone. Most designers create a pdf and share it on their company
or organization’s internal resource library.
2.13 Conclusion
After all of that, you might be saying, “Wow, that’s a lot.” We know how you feel.
We weren’t exaggerating when we mentioned how much work goes into designing
a logo. Designers typically take weeks to work through all the phases. So our last
piece of advice is this: Don’t rush. Take the time to go through the exercises we
outlined in each phase. Your final design will reflect the level of effort you put
toward it.

21
CHAPTER THREE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
3.1 Summary and Conclusions
The whole experience gained during the attachment at ICT, FUTO was very
enlightening. The practical skills we were exposed to and the opportunity to relate
with typical situations relating to computer engineering industry. These
experiences have successfully broadened my understanding and interest in Graphic
design and photo editing.
The training was worthwhile, has it accorded me the privilege of gaining insight
into job preparation as well as what it meant to carry out proper inspection and also
working condition under stress which in a way prepares undergraduates for the
outside world after school.
The program gave me the privilege to relate with senior professionals and other
students from different institutions and this experience made me appreciate the
nature, benefits, and intricacies of my chosen field of study both in the classroom
and in the society at large while also gives me the opportunity to put into practice
the theoretical knowledge acquired throughout my stay in school. The program has
given me the rare privilege of gaining practical knowledge and widened my
knowledge about the application of physics in the world.
3.2 Problem Faced During SIWES Program
Some the problems experienced during the SIWES program. These are as stated
below.
1. Limited orientation before starting the program.
3.3 Recommendations
Based on the experience and knowledge acquired at the course of the SIWES
training, I hereby give the following recommendation based on my observations.
22
1. Proper orientation should be given to the students by the university before they
go on SIWES at least before mid-semester break of first semester.

2. The placement letter should be given to students early enough so as to avoid


attachment in irrelevant organization.
3. I recommend that substantial percent of the National budget should go into the
development, improvement and sustenance of the power sector.
4. Student should avoid prioritizing money over work and experience and should
develop a good attitude, good work ethics and be a good ambassador of the
university they are representing.
5. Institution and ITF should ensure that students are attached at relevant
establishment for effective training, experience and exposure related to their course
of study in the university.

23

You might also like